For Go through Question Just consult the WINSOME SERIES. These are available at your nearest Bookshop. If You have any trouble then contact us
Utter Pradesh Technical University (UPTU)
Solution of II Semester Year 2014 - 15
Solution of II Semester Year 2014 - 15
Q.1. Elaborate the statement “Multidisciplinary nature of Environmental science.” (2014 - 15)
Ans. Go through Q.5. page no.4.
Q.2. How would you broadly divide major layer or regions of the atmosphere? State respective altitude and temprature ranges. (2014 - 15)
Ans. Go through Q.1. page no. 1 and Q.2. page no. 2.
Q.3. What are the basic components of ecosystem? (2014 - 15)
Ans. Go through Q. 9. page no. 13.
Q.4. Discuss the various level of the Bio-diversity. (2014 - 15)
Ans. Go through Q.5. page no. 112.
Q.5. Briefly describe the need of public awareness about the environment. (2014 - 15)
Ans. Go through Q.4. page no. 4.
Q.6. What are non-conventional energy resources? Discuss any two of them. (2014 - 15)
Ans. Go through Q.13. page no. 45, Q.14 page no. 45, and Q.17. page no. 48.
Q.7. What are ecological pyramids? Describe energy pyramid. (2014 - 15)
Ans. Go through Q.18. page no. 21.
Q.8. Write in detail about the functions of ecosystem. (2014 - 15)
Ans. By the ecosystem we mean:
· The rate of biological energy flow i.e., the rates of production and respiration of the community.
· The rate of nutrient (minerals) cycles; and
· Biological or ecological regulation including both regulation of environment by the organisms (e.g. nitrogen-fixing bacterias, etc.) and regulation of organisms by environment (e.g. photoperiodism, etc.).
Q.9. What is Environmental Impact Assessment? Discuss its importance in planning and implementation of engineering projects. (2014 - 15)
Ans. Go through Q.25 page no. 26.
Q.10. Define pollution and pollutant. Discuss the adverse effects and control measures of water pollution. (2014 - 15)
Ans. Pollution And Pollutant: -
In a homeostatic ecosystem there is a balance between the living organisms and the environment. Disturbance in any component of the environment is likely to have a harmful effect on the ecosystem. Any change in the environment which contributes to its deterioration is called pollution of the environment and the agent which causes the pollution is called pollutant. This change in the physical, chemical or biological characteristics of our physical environment (air, water and land) is undesirable and harms human life, other living organisms and cultural assests. The resulting impact on the environment has been so massive with far reaching consequences that the very existence of life is threatened.
For next part go through Q.1. page no. 53 and Q.2. page no. 56.
Q.11. Explain in detail Carbon and nitrogen cycle. (2014 - 15)
Ans. Go through Q.9. page no. 41.
Q.12. Write short note on sustainable development. (2014 - 15)
Ans. Go through Q.27 page no. 27.
Q.13. What are air borne diseases? Is it come under the disease caused by air pollution? (2014 - 15)
Ans. Go through Q.15 page no. 68.
Yes its come under the disease caused by air pollution.
Q.14. What is meant by ozone depletion? How CFCs and other ozone depleting substances affect ozone shield? (2014 - 15)
Ans. Go through Q.34 page no. 89 and Q. 35 page no. 90.
Q.15. Why do we refer Environmental Protection Act, 1986 as an umbrella Act? Discuss the Environmental Protection rules, 1986. (2014 - 15)
Ans. In the wake of Bhopal tragedy, the Government of India enacted the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (EPA) under article 253 of the constitution. The purpose of the Act is to act as an "umbrella" legislation designed to provide a frame work for Central government co-ordination of the activities of various central and state authorities established under previous laws, such as Water Act and Air Act.
For next part go through Q.1. page no. 96.
Q.16. What are bio indicators? Discuss the various types of bio-indicators. (2014 - 15)
Ans. A bio indicator is an organism or biological response that reveals the presence of the pollutants by the occurrence of typical symptoms or measurable responses, and is therefore more qualitative. These organisms (or communities of organisms) deliver information on alterations in the environment or the quantity of environmental pollutants by changing in one of the following ways: physiologically, chemically or behaviourally. The information can be deduced through the study of:
· their content of certain elements or compounds
· their morphological or cellular structure
· metabolic-biochemical processes
· behaviour, or
· population structure(s).
The importance and relevance of biomonitors, rather than man-made equipment, is justified by the statement: "There is no better indicator of the status of a species or a system than a species or system itself."
The use of a biomonitor is described as biological monitoring (abbr. biomonitoring) and is the use of the properties of an organism to obtain information on certain aspects of the biosphere. Biomonitoring of air pollutants can be passive or active. Passive methods observe plants growing naturally within the area of interest. Active methods detect the presence of air pollutants by placing test plants of known response and genotype into the study area.
Bioaccumulative indicators are frequently regarded as biomonitors.
Depending on the organism selected and their use, there are several types of bio-indicators. Such as Plant indicators, Animal indicators and toxins, Microbial indicators and chemical pollutants, Microbial indicators in oil and gas exploration, Microalgae as bio-indicators for water quality, ECOTOX, Macroinvertebrate bio-indicators. Here we describe some of them -
Plant indicators: -
The presence or absence of certain plant or other vegetative life in an ecosystem can provide important clues about the health of the environment: environmental preservation. There are several types of plant biomonitors, including mosses, lichens, tree bark, bark pockets, tree rings, leaves, and fungi.
Lichens are organisms comprising both fungi and algae. They are found on rocks and tree trunks, and they respond to environmental changes in forests, including changes in forest structure – conservation biology, air quality, and climate. The disappearance of lichens in a forest may indicate environmental stresses, such as high levels of sulfur dioxide, sulfur-based pollutants, and nitrogen oxides.
The composition and total biomass of algal species in aquatic systems serves as an important metric for organic water pollution and nutrient loading such as nitrogen and phosphorus.
There are genetically engineered organisms, that can respond to toxicity levels in the environment; e.g., a type of genetically engineered grass that grows a different colour if there are toxins in the soil.
Animal indicators and toxins: -
An increase or decrease in an animal population may indicate damage to the ecosystem caused by pollution. For example, if pollution causes the depletion of important food sources, animal species dependent upon these food sources will also be reduced in number: population decline. Overpopulation can be the result of opportunistic species growth. In addition to monitoring the size and number of certain species, other mechanisms of animal indication include monitoring the concentration of toxins in animal tissues, or monitoring the rate at which deformities arise in animal populations, or their behaviour either directly in the field or in a lab.
Microbial indicators and chemical pollutants: -
Microorganisms can be used as indicators of aquatic or terrestrial ecosystem health. Found in large quantities, microorganisms are easier to sample than other organisms. Some microorganisms will produce new proteins, called stress proteins, when exposed to contaminants such as cadmium and benzene. These stress proteins can be used as an early warning system to detect changes in levels of pollution.
Microbial indicators in oil and gas exploration: -
Microbial Prospecting for oil and gas (MPOG) is often used to identify prospective areas for oil and gas occurrences. In many cases oil and gas is known to seep toward the surface as a hydrocarbon reservoir will usually leak or have leaked towards the surface through buoyancy forces overcoming sealing pressures. These hydrocarbons can alter the chemical and microbial occurrences found in the near surface soils or can be picked up directly. Techniques used for MPOG include DNA analysis, simple bug counts after culturing a soil sample in a hydrocarbon based medium or by looking at the consumption of hydrocarbon gases in a culture cell.
Microalgae as bio-indicators for water quality: -
Microalgae have gained attention in the recent years due to several reasons because of their greater sensitivity to pollutants than many other organisms. In addition they occur abundantly in nature, they are an essential component in very many food webs, they are easy to culture and to use in assays and there are few if any ethical issues involved in their use.
ECOTOX: -
ECOTOX is an automatic bioassay device used to test the quality of water samples, by the detection of toxic chemicals. It is small piece of hardware containing a miniaturized microscope linked to a camera, an observation cuvette, pumps to mix the water samples with the microalgae; everything being connected to a computer equipped with software. One of the biggest advantages of this device is the automated measurements and analysis, which reduces the risks of personal error. Moreover, it is easy to use, quite cheap and fast: only 10 min are necessary to test a water sample and the corresponding control. The determination of the samples quality is derived from analysis of several parameters related to the movement of the microalgae. All measurements are made automatically with real time image analysis.